Biden set to meet Pacific leaders in Washington amid China tensions
Tuesday, 9 August 2022
The United States has stepped up diplomatic engagement in the Pacific, with President Joe Biden set to meet leaders from the island nations in the White House next month, the US Indo-Pacific co-ordinator, Kurt Campbell, said on Monday.
Campbell's comments come amid rising concerns over China's expanding presence in the region, underlined by a security pact Beijing signed with the Solomon Islands in March.
The US-China fallout has escalated in recent days after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, which the Chinese claim is a breakaway province.
China's Defence Ministry warned Pelosi’s visit would have 'serious consequences' and Beijing responded with test launches of ballistic missiles over the Taiwan Strait.
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Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who is also chairperson of the Pacific Islands Forum, is in Washington and has met Vice-President Kamala Harris.
Harris had assured the leaders’ forum in Suva last month of America’s commitment to the Pacific – opening new embassies for Kiribati, Tonga and the Solomons as well as more than $900,000 in funding.
Harris tweeted that her talks with the Fijian PM were 'all in the spirit of partnership, friendship and respect'.
Bainimarama also tweeted that he was looking forward to a 'Pacific leaders' summit at the White House soon'.
It is unclear if New Zealand and Australia have been invited by Biden. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade have yet to confirm if the PM has been invited. Ardern met with Biden in June during a trade tour of the US, Europe and Australia.
In his address to the US-NZ business summit in May, Campbell said Biden intended to increase diplomatic ties with Pacific countries that had not seen ambassadors or engagement for decades.
'For the United States to be effective in the Pacific we must do more, and we must do more on areas that matter and are of significance to the Pacific Islanders,' Campbell said.
He said that along with more engagement with Pacific nations, the Biden administration aimed to work more intensively on regional co-operation with New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Britain, France and others.
Campbell said New Zealand had been “more ambivalent in some areas of security” but he did not believe that would be the case in future.
He said the US would also work with the new International Development Finance Corporation to fund Pacific projects and restore the Peace Corps in the region. The US would also increase support for multilateral engagement through the Pacific Islands Forum.
The forum has been under threat in the past year after five Micronesian countries threatened to quit following a disagreement over leadership.
Four nations have decided to stay with the forum. But Kiribati will not after President Taneti Maamau announced on the eve of the Suva summit last month that his Government was withdrawing its support for the regional institution.
The US deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman, has completed a Pacific tour including New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga and the Solomon Islands. She also confirmed that “President Biden is looking forward to welcoming' Pacific leaders to the White House in September.
The Pacific leaders’ visit would coincide with a session of the United Nations' General Assembly, said Sherman, who joined New Zealand and Australian diplomats at the 80th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomons on Monday.
Samoa Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, who is expected to attend Biden’s Pacific summit, commended the US for rejoining the Paris Agreement on climate change after meeting with Sherman last week.
The White House is yet to release the list of Pacific Islands Forum leaders invited to meet Biden.